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Eschatological Ethics of Superintelligent Design: A Christian View
of the Theological and Moral Implications of Transhumanism
Paul A. Golata
Parallel Session 6
April 01, 2017, 13:10–13:50
Annual Meeting of the Southwest Region
Evangelical Theological Society (ETS) 2017
Progressive Covenantalism & Progressive Dispensationalism
March 31–April 01, 2017
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, TX
1
Eschatological Ethics of Superintelligent Design: A Christian View
of the Theological and Moral implications of Transhumanism
It will be argued that Transhumanism’s eschatological claims of the possibility of
eliminating biological death are theologically and ethically flawed in view of the superintelligent
design revealed to humanity through special revelation.
Julian Huxley (1887–1975), evolutionary biologist, eugenicist, and humanist, was the
first to propose that the increase in technology will lead to a new understanding of mankind, a
concept he called transhumanism.1 The advent of the semiconductor electronics demonstrated
that this technology scaled very quickly.2 Building upon the rise of the digital and computer age
the modern Transhumanism movement came into view as futurists made observations that the
rate of technological progress is accelerating exponentially.3 It is a transhumanism belief that
1 “The human species can, if it wishes, transcend itself —not just sporadically, an
individual here in one way, an individual there in another way, but in its entirety, as humanity.
We need a name for this new belief. Perhaps transhumanism will serve: man remaining man, but
transcending himself, by realizing new possibilities of and for his human nature. “I believe in
transhumanism”: once there are enough people who can truly say that, the human species will be
on the threshold of a new kind of existence, as different from ours as ours is from that of Peking
man. It will at last be consciously fulfilling its real destiny.” Julian Sorrell Huxley, New Bottles
for New Wine: Essays (New York, NY: Harper & Brothers Publishing, 1957). Refer to Luke
5:33–39 for the biblical story to which this title has reference.
2 Moore’s Law observes that the transistor count doubles every two years on an
integrated circuit chip (IC) while performance increases by a factor of two every eighteen
months. Gordon Earle Moore, “Cramming More Components onto Integrated Circuits,”
Electronics 38, no. 8 (1965): 114–117.
3 Transhumanism (H+) “is an international cultural and intellectual movement with an
eventual goal of fundamentally transforming the human condition by developing and making
widely available technologies to greatly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological
2
technological progress can be harnessed and channeled to overthrow present human biological
limitations that have been imposed upon humanity by naturalistic evolution. The technological
enhancement of human biology through natural and artificial manipulation is viewed as
something mankind must actively pursue. Passionate about reducing physical suffering,
transcending limitations, and even solving the problem of biological death, transhumanists may
become more concerned about achieving these ends than about the means employed to realize
them. Making a bold eschatological claim, transhumanism maintains that mankind’s high level
of intelligence—his science, technology, and unsuperstitious reason—will enable him to realize
this dream of human immortality. Rejecting the God of the Bible, transhumanism places its faith
in science to fulfill their eschatological vision, an extropian utopia of tomorrow, a state in which
humans always are feeling better and are always intelligent.
The Bible provides a different eschatological viewpoint for humanity.4 It maintains that
man has been created by a Creator. Human nature is presently afflicted with sin and is fallen.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, fully-God and fully-man, came with the purpose to reconcile and
redeem humanity. The action of Jesus Christ at the cross, impacted not only humanity but the
entire cosmos. Christian eschatology relies on what Jesus Christ has done in the past but also
looks forward to his future return and the consummation of the cosmos. In contrast to
capacities.” Adam Ford, “What Is Transhumanism? – the 3 Supers,” James J. Hughes,
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/pearce20140916. Such a philosophical system and this
particular worship of what man has created have far reaching effects into the ethics of society
and culture.
4 Christians are to take and hold as their authoritative objective standard the nature and
will of the triune God as revealed in His revealed Word (Scripture). This personal disclosure of
God’s very nature and actions is the ultimate source of all truth for mankind because it is the
story and revelation of the TRUTH, Jesus Christ.
3
Transhumanism, the Christian worldview provides the proper framework from which one should
understand the issues of human intelligence, suffering, pain, biological death, and immortality.
Transhumanism
What happens when man plays God (Gen 1:26–27; 2:20)?5 Evolutionary naturalism’s
reduction of mankind to machines has served as an invitation for us to experiment and tinker
with ourselves with no responsibility to anything beyond the self and society. Transhumanism
believes that technology should be employed to change the human machine and enhance human
biological capacities.6 Transhumanist Max More (1964–) expresses the view that transhumanism
.adam: man, mankind. In Genesis 2:20 the first man, Adam אדם 5
6 For more information on Transhumanism see the following: Nick Bostrom, “A History
of Transhumanist Thought.”; Ted Chu, Human Purpose and Transhuman Potential: A Cosmic
Vision of Our Future Evolution (San Rafael, CA: Origin Press, 2014); Ronald Cole-Turner, ed.
Transhumanism and Transcendence: Christian Hope in an Age of Technological Advancement
(Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2011); Celia Deane-Drummond and Peter
Manley Scott, eds., Future Perfect?: God, Medicine and Human Identity (New York, NY: T & T
Clark International, 2006); DeBaets, “Enhancement for All? A Feminist Ethical Analysis of the
Discourses and Practices of Democratic Transhumanism.”; “Rapture of the Geeks:
Singularitarianism, Feminism, and the Yearning for Transcendence,” Religion and
Transhumanism: The Unknown Future of Human Enhancement (2014); Stephen Robert Garner,
“Transhumanism and the Imago Dei: Narratives of Apprehension and Hope” (University of
Auckland, 2006); Zoltan Gyurko Istvan, The Transhumanist Wager (Reno, NV: Futurity Imagine
Media LLC, 2013); Mercer; Calvin R. Mercer and Derek F. Maher, eds., Transhumanism and the
Body: The World Religions Speak, Palgrave Studies in the Future of Humanity and Its
Successors (New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014); Max More, “The Overhuman in the
Transhuman,” Journal of Evolution and Technology 21, no. 1 (2010); Max More and Natasha
Vita-More, eds., The Transhumanist Reader: Classical and Contemporary Essays on the
Science, Technology, and Philosophy of the Human Future (Chichester, West Sussex, United
Kingdom: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013); Cris D. Putnam, “The Doctrine of Man: A Critique of
Christian Transhumanism,” in International Society of Christian Apologetics, 6th Annual
Conference (Raleigh, NC2011); Martine Aliana Rothblatt, From Transgender to Transhuman: A
Manifesto on the Freedom of Form (New York, NY: Princeton Architectural Press, 2011),
Virtually Human: The Promise—and the Peril—of Digital Immortality (New York, NY: St.
Martin’s Press, 2014); Charles T. Rubin, Eclipse of Man: Human Extinction and the Meaning of
Progress. New Atlantis Books (New York, NY: Encounter Books, 2014; Anders Sandberg,
“Transhumanism and the Meaning of Life,” in Religion and Transhumanism: The Unknown
4
is philosophically based upon the acceptance of meliorism—the belief that the world can be
made better by human effort.
Transhumanism reflects the Enlightenment commitment to meliorism and rejects all
forms of apologism – the view that it is wrong for humans to attempt to alter the
conditions of life for the better. Nothing about this implies that the goal is to reach a final,
perfect state. The contrary view is made explicit in the transhumanist concept of extropy
– a process of perpetual progress, not a static state. Further, one of the Principles of
Extropy is Perpetual Progress. This states that transhumanists “seek continual
improvement in ourselves, our cultures, and our environments. We seek to improve
ourselves physically, intellectually, and psychologically. We value the perpetual pursuit
of knowledge and understanding.7
Transhumanists’ ontological understanding of the world fits well with futurist Ray
Kurzweil’s (1948–) claim that the “process of evolutionary complexification toward evermore
complex structures, forms, and operations.”8 It views humanity as psychologically “imbued with
the innate Will-to-Evolve (WTE) which provides an instinctive drive to expand capabilities in
Future of Human Enhancement (Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, an imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC,
2015); Schneider; R. U. Sirius and Jay Cornell, Transcendence: The Disinformation
Encyclopedia of Transhumanism and the Singularity (San Francisco, CA: Disinformation Books,
2015); Stefan Lorenz Sorgner, “Nietzsche, the Overhuman, and Transhumanism,” Journal of
Evolution and Technology 20, no. 1 (2009); Phillip M. Thompson, Returning to Reality: Thomas
Merton's Wisdom for a Technological World (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2012). Jennifer
Jeanine Thweatt-Bates, “The Cyborg Christ: Theological Anthropology, Christology, and the
Posthuman” (Ph.D., Princeton Theological Seminary, 2010); Hava Tirosh-Samuelson and
Kenneth L. Mossman, Building Better Humans?: Refocusing the Debate on Transhumanism, ed.
Stefan Lorenz Sorgner, Beyond Humanism: Trans- and Posthumanism (Frankfurt am Main:
Peter Lang, 2012); Simon Young, Designer Evolution: A Transhumanist Manifesto (Amherst,
NY: Prometheus Books, 2006).
7 Max More, “The Philosophy of Transhumanism,” in The Transhumanist Reader:
Classical and Contemporary Essays on the Science, Technology, and Philosophy of the Human
Future, ed. Max More and Natasha Vita-More (Chichester, West Sussex, United Kingdom:
Wiley-Blackwell, 2013), 14.
8 Young, 19.
5
pursuit of ever-increasing survivability and well-being.”9 They believe that the best way to live
ethically is that humanity should be able to reach this consensus
We seek to foster its innate WTE, by continually striving to expand our abilities
throughout life. By acting in harmony with the essential nature of the evolutionary
process-complexification-humans may discover a new sense of purpose, direction, and
meaning to life and come to feel ourselves at home in the world once more.10
Transhumanists believe that nature is deemed to be man’s “designer” and it did it through non-
intelligent processes. Max More is clear when he declares, “Transhumanism doesn’t find the
biological human body disgusting or frightening. It does find it to be a marvelous, yet flawed
piece of engineering. It could hardly be otherwise, given that it was designed by a blind
watchmaker, as Richard Dawkins (1941–) put it.”11 More goes on to explain that
True transhumanism does seek to enable each of us to alter and improve (by our own
standards) the human body and champions morphological freedom. Rather than denying
the body, transhumanists typically want to choose its form and be able to inhabit different
bodies, including virtual bodies.12
Martine Rothblatt (1954–), creator of Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI), agrees with this
conception that humans should be free to morph into what they want to be.13 Rothblatt married a
woman named Bina Aspen in 1982 and has since gone on to create the Breakthrough Intelligence
via Neural Architecture 48 (BINA48), a social robot modeled on the physical features of Bina
9 Ibid.
10 Ibid.
11 More, “The Philosophy of Transhumanism,” 15.
12 Ibid.
13 Rothblatt, From Transgender to Transhuman: A Manifesto on the Freedom of Form.
6
Aspen.14 Author Simon Young, writing on transhumanism, states that the “…chief task of
twenty-first century philosophy is the unification of science and ethics where good is seen as
sensible self-interest and bad is seen as stupid selfishness.”15 Closely related to transhumanism is
extropianism, which is a derivation of transhumanism with slight adjustments made to serve the
vision of direction into the future. Max More has written the defining principles of this
philosophy.16 Others have developed this philosophy and worldview and expressed it in five key
14 “Bina48 is one of the world’s most advanced social robots based on a composite of
information from several people including Bina Aspen, co-founder of the Terasem Movement.
She was created using video interview transcripts, laser scanning life mask technology, face
recognition, artificial intelligence and voice recognition technologies. As an “ambassador” for
the LifeNaut project, Bina48 is designed to be a social robot that can interact based on
information, memories, values, and beliefs collected about an actual person. As such, Bina48 is
an early demonstration of the Terasem Hypothesis, which states: A conscious analog of a person
may be created by combining sufficiently detailed data about the person (a mindfile) using future
consciousness software (mindware). See more at: “Bina48 Social Robot with Lifenaut.Com,”
Terasem Movement Foundation, https://www.lifenaut.com/bina48/#sthash.rG8WngJ8.dpuf.
15 Simon Young, Designer Evolution: A Transhumanist Manifesto (Amherst, NY:
Prometheus Books, 2006), 31, 34.
16 “The Principles of Extropy in Brief: (1) Perpetual Progress: Extropy means seeking
more intelligence, wisdom, and effectiveness, an open-ended lifespan, and the removal of
political, cultural, biological, and psychological limits to continuing development. Perpetually
overcoming constraints on our progress and possibilities as individuals, as organizations, and as
a species. Growing in healthy directions without bound. (2) Self-Transformation: Extropy means
affirming continual ethical, intellectual, and physical self-improvement, through critical and
creative thinking, perpetual learning, personal responsibility, proactivity, and experimentation.
Using technology — in the widest sense to seek physiological and neurological augmentation
along with emotional and psychological refinement. (3) Practical Optimism: Extropy means
fueling action with positive expectations – individuals and organizations being tirelessly
proactive. Adopting a rational, action-based optimism or “pro-action”, in place of both blind
faith and stagnant pessimism. (4) Intelligent Technology: Extropy means designing and
managing technologies not as ends in themselves but as effective means for improving life.
Applying science and technology creatively and courageously to transcend “natural” but
harmful, confining qualities derived from our biological heritage, culture, and environment. (5)
Open Society - information and democracy: Extropy means supporting social orders that foster
freedom of communication, freedom of action, experimentation, innovation, questioning, and
learning. Opposing authoritarian social control and unnecessary hierarchy and favoring the rule
of law and decentralization of power and responsibility. Preferring bargaining over battling,
7
themes: (1) Endless eXtension, (2) Transcending Restriction, (3) Overcoming Property, (4)
Intelligence, and (5) Smart Machines.17 The Extropist Manifesto when discussing intelligence
claims:
Extropy is the opposite of entropy; it is the inverse of chaos and lethargy. In a way, it is
the only exception to the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Extropy is intelligence,
creativity, order, critical thinking, ingenuity and boundless energy. The most valuable
material in the universe is information and the imagination to do something with it; with
these two qualities there is truly no limit to what can be accomplished.18
Is intelligent technology able to transcend and provide purpose and meaning?
Transhumanists believe so.19 Human flourishing as the telos (end, goal) is replaced with
exchange over extortion, and communication over compulsion. Openness to improvement rather
than a static utopia. Extropia (“ever-receding stretch goals for society”) over utopia (“no place”).
(6) Self-Direction: Extropy means valuing independent thinking, individual freedom, personal
responsibility, self-direction, self-respect, and a parallel respect for others. (7) Rational Thinking:
Extropy means favoring reason over blind faith and questioning over dogma. It means
understanding, experimenting, learning, challenging, and innovating rather than clinging to
beliefs.” Max More, “Principles of Extropy, Version 3.11,” (2003).
17 “(1) Endless eXtension: Extropists seek perpetual growth and progress in all aspects of
human endeavor. (2) Transcending Restrictions – Since they are ultimately inspired by growth,
progress and continual development, extropists wish to abolish all restrictions imposed by
religion, protectionism, segregation, racism, bigotry, sexism, ageism, and any of the other
archaic fears and hatreds that continue to limit us today. (3) Overcoming Property: We wish to
reform archaic, outdated human laws that govern possession by improving and/or annihilating
terms such as ownership, copyright, patent, money and property. (4) Intelligence: Extropy is the
opposite of entropy; it is the inverse of chaos and lethargy. In a way, it is the only exception to
the Second Law of Thermodynamics. (5) Smart Machines: A primary goal of Extropism is the
attainment of Friendly Artificial Intelligence.” “The Extropist Manifesto,”
http://extropism.tumblr.com/post/393563122/the-extropist-manifesto.
18 Ibid.
19 “Intelligent Technology: Extropy entails strongly affirming the value of science and
technology. It means using practical methods to advance the goals of expanded intelligence,
superior physical abilities, psychological refinement, social advance, and indefinite life spans. It
means preferring science to mysticism, and technology to prayer. Science and technology are
indispensable means to the achievement of our most noble values, ideals, and visions and to
humanity’s further evolution. We have a responsibility to foster these disciplined forms of
intelligence, and to direct them toward eradicating the barriers to the unfolding of extropy,
8
technology, in what is a Nietzschean (1844–1900) trans-valuation.20 Absent God, man is
equivalent to a machine, so any machine creation that “improves” upon man himself usurps
historical conceptions of humanity. Mankind loses ground as he is replaced by ever-increasing
revisions of machines that perform better in the mechanical realm than man’s limited biological
radically transforming both the internal and external conditions of existence. We can think of
“intelligent technology” in a variety of useful ways. In one sense it refers to intelligently
designed technology that well serves good human purposes. In a second sense it refers to
technology with inherent intelligence or adaptability or possessed of an instinctual ability. In a
third sense, it means using technology to enhance our intelligence – our abilities to learn, to
discover, process, absorb, and inter-connect knowledge. Technology is a natural extension and
expression of human intellect and will, of creativity, curiosity, and imagination. We can foresee
and encourage the development of ever more flexible, smart, responsive technology. We will co-
evolve with the products of our minds, integrating with them, finally integrating our intelligent
technology into ourselves in a post-human synthesis, amplifying our abilities and extending our
freedom. Profound technological innovation should excite rather than frightens us. We would do
well to welcome constructive change, expanding our horizons, exploring new territory boldly
and inventively. Careful and cautious development of powerful technologies makes sense, but
we should neither stifle evolutionary advancement nor cringe before the unfamiliar. Timidity and
stagnation are ignoble, uninspiring responses. Humans can surge ahead — riding the waves of
future shock — rather than stagnating or reverting to primitivism. Intelligent use of bio- nano-
and information technologies and the opening of new frontiers in space, can remove resource
constraints and discharge environmental pressures. The coming years and decades will bring
enormous changes that will vastly expand our opportunities and abilities, transforming our lives
for the better. This technological transformation will be accelerated by life extending
biosciences, biochemical and genetic engineering, intelligence intensifiers, smarter interfaces to
swifter computers, worldwide data networks, virtual reality, intelligent agents, pervasive,
affective, and instinctual computing systems, neuroscience, artificial life, and molecular
nanotechnologies.” “Principles of Extropy, Version 3.11.”
20 Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, The Antichrist, trans. Henry Louis Mencken (Waiheke
Island, New Zealand: The Floating Press, 2010).
9
realities allow.21 The human ultimately loses to the AI-machine and is replaced by a new
transhuman understanding, a post-human man.22
Rejecting the biblical account that purpose and meaning is found in glorifying God, they
turn to a faith in technology to create a reason for existence (1 Cor 10:31).23 Rejecting biblical
theists as Bio-Luddites, who improperly subject themselves to the authority of a non-existent
God, transhumanists “believe in transcendence through technology.”24 By achieving the
technological singularity, transhumanists believe that the evolutionary processes of chaos and
random chance will be harnessed and controlled.25 This will lead to the advent of a post-human
21 Aldous Leonard Huxley. Brave New World. 1st ed. New York, NY: Harper Perennial
Modern Classics, 2006. ———. Brave New World Revisited. 1st ed. New York, NY: Harper
Perennial Modern Classics, 2006.
22 Jacques Ellul, The Technological Society; James Barrat, Our Final Invention: Artificial
Intelligence and the End of the Human Era, 1st ed. (New York, NY: Thomas Dunne Books,
2013).
23 Anders Sandberg, “Transhumanism and the Meaning of Life”.
24 Young, Designer Evolution: A Transhumanist Manifesto, 52.
25 Vernor Venge coined the term “singularity” in his 1993 essay when he proposed the
thesis that because technological progress marks the past several generations “…that we are on
the verge of change comparable to the rise of human life on Earth. The precise cause of this
change is the imminent creation by technology of entities with greater than human intelligence.”
Vernor Steffen Vinge, “The Coming Technological Singularity: How to Survive in the Post-
Human Era,” Vision-21: Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering in the Era of Cyberspace
(1993): 12. The realization of ASI would mark a point in human history that Kurzweil and others
have described as the “technological singularity.” Such a conception of a technological
singularity is considered to represent an inflection point where technology has so impacted
humanity that man can no longer understand himself from his past because he has so quickly and
rapidly been moving forward. Kurzweil, The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend
Biology; How to Create a Mind: The Secret of Human Thought Revealed; John Von Neumann
and Ray Kurzweil, The Computer & the Brain, 3rd ed. (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press,
2012). In 2002, the Vatican issued a statement called Communion and Stewardship: Human
Persons Created in the Image of God, in which it is stated that the “creation of a superhuman or
spiritually superior being is ‘unthinkable,’ since true improvement can come only through
religious experience.” Commission, Paragraph 91. For a good introduction to the concept of a
10
condition whereby life extension and/or immortality may be achieved. Transhumanists believe
that a future without biological death is possible and believe the technological singularity can
save them from the grave.
The Bible claims that man is programmed to die and then receive judgment from God
based upon whether they accepted His Son, Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior (Rom 3:22–23; 4:24;
6:23; 10:9; Gal 3:22; 1 Thess 4:14; 1 Tim 1:16; Heb 9:27; 1 John 3:23). Transhumanism suffers
from a defective anthropology that does not properly recognize humans have been created for
relationship with their Creator. The aspiration to artificially accelerate human evolution
mistakenly assumes that humans are evolutionary accidents of nature. We’re not. It also misses
the fact that every human is “fallen” in our nature; our finite and fallen minds are nowhere near
as capable as our Creator when it comes to judging which design traits are good or not.
Everything was created good (Gen 1:31). The chief end of man is not to turn himself into the
most intelligent being but rather to be dwelling with His Creator for eternity and enjoy Him
forever (1 Cor 10:31).26
Transhumanists believe that man, in conjunction with AI, will lead the way into this
future. Foregoing biblical virtues, the transhumanists focus on intelligence and the mind in a vain
belief that the key to the future is the aspiration to free oneself from the physical problems of an
evolutionary body and exist in a high state and plane of consciousness that is essentially an ASI.
Julian’s Huxley’s younger brother, Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) in Brave New World says,
technological singularity and its implications for ASI see Amnon H. Eden et al., eds., Singularity
Hypotheses: A Scientific and Philosophical Assessment, The Frontiers Collection (New York,
NY: Springer, 2012). Eden et al., characterize the technological singularity as manifesting “a
combination of acceleration and discontinuity.” Ibid., 5.
26 Westminster Confession of Faith.
11
And there’s always soma to calm your anger, to reconcile you to your enemies, to make
you patient and long-suffering. In the past you could only accomplish these things by
making a great effort and after years of hard moral training. Now, you swallow two or
three half-gramme tablets, and there you are. Anybody can be virtuous now. You can
carry at least half your morality about in a bottle. Christianity without tears–that’s
what soma is.27
In the Bible, sóma (σῶμα) refers to the flesh or physical body. Huxley is perhaps suggesting a
substitute to replace the Christian anthropological view of sóma, its connection to Jesus Christ,
and to the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper (Matt 26:26–30; Mark 14:22–26; Luke 22:19–20; Acts
2:41–42; 20:7; 1 Cor 10:16; 11:23–24). However, such an attempt to suggest that technology
leads to transcendence of the sóma is really nothing more than human pride (1 John 2:16). Every
attempt that to make ethical judgments about AI technology (or any other technology) without
factoring in an absolute standard that transcends the opinions of humans runs a very high risk of
falling short of or conflicting with the revealed will and character of God.
The Bible states that at the root of sin is human pride with its enmity toward God (Rom
8:7). Human pride rejects God as Creator and Lord and puts something much smaller on His
throne. Human pride is an attack on the claims and authority of God and is blasphemy against
Him.
At its best, human knowledge is limited. The claims of transhumanists are that man can
assume sufficient control over himself and nature. Such a usurpation of God’s authority results in
man’s making everything in the imago homo rather than understanding he is created in the imago
Dei. John Calvin (1509–1564) said knowledge always consisted of two parts: knowledge of God
27 Huxley, Brave New World, Chapter 17.
12
and knowledge of self.28 Without proper knowledge of God, man was deficient in wisdom. It was
man’s lack of true self-knowledge that left him blind to the reality of his own pride.29
Human life was created in the imago Dei (Gen 1:26–28). God is the creator and giver of
life (Ps 139:13–16). Because humans are made in the imago Dei, humans are imaged to be like
God in certain ways. This includes the ability to explore, create, and interact with His creation
through the use of our physical bodies and mental minds. Due to the fall the image of God
resides in sinful human rebels. All “technology is a component of the cultural framework for
28 Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 1, Chapter 1, Point 1, 4.
29 “On the other hand, it is evident that man never attains to a true self-knowledge until he
has previously contemplated the face of God, and come down after such contemplation to look
into himself. For (such is our innate pride) we always seem to ourselves just, and upright, and
wise, and holy, until we are convinced, by clear evidence, of our injustice, vileness, folly, and
impurity. Convinced, however, we are not, if we look to ourselves only, and not to the Lord
also—He being the only standard by the application of which this conviction can be produced.
For, since we are all naturally prone to hypocrisy, any empty semblance of righteousness is quite
enough to satisfy us instead of righteousness itself. And since nothing appears within us or
around us that is not tainted with very great impurity, so long as we keep our mind within the
confines of human pollution, anything which is in some small degree less defiled delights us as if
it were most pure just as an eye, to which nothing but black had been previously presented,
deems an object of a whitish, or even of a brownish hue, to be perfectly white. Nay, the bodily
sense may furnish a still stronger illustration of the extent to which we are deluded in estimating
the powers of the mind. If, at mid-day, we either look down to the ground, or on the surrounding
objects which lie open to our view, we think ourselves endued with a very strong and piercing
eyesight; but when we look up to the sun, and gaze at it unveiled, the sight which did excellently
well for the earth is instantly so dazzled and confounded by the refulgence, as to oblige us to
confess that our acuteness in discerning terrestrial objects is mere dimness when applied to the
sun. Thus too, it happens in estimating our spiritual qualities. So long as we do not look beyond
the earth, we are quite pleased with our own righteousness, wisdom, and virtue; we address
ourselves in the most flattering terms, and seem only less than demigods. But should we once
begin to raise our thoughts to God, and reflect what kind of Being he is, and how absolute the
perfection of that righteousness, and wisdom, and virtue, to which, as a standard, we are bound
to be conformed, what formerly delighted us by its false show of righteousness will become
polluted with the greatest iniquity; what strangely imposed upon us under the name of wisdom
will disgust by its extreme folly; and what presented the appearance of virtuous energy will be
condemned as the most miserable impotence. So far are those qualities in us, which seem most
perfect, from corresponding to the divine purity.” Ibid., Book 1, Chapter 2, Point 2, 5.
13
meaning. One of the ways that God has disclosed Himself is “even in our very makeup, because
we as humans bear the imago Dei.”30 Thus any “infringement on God’s rights as the Creator and
Lord of life, is of necessity a debasement and assault on the imago Dei,” because human life is a
“participation in His glory and human lives are meant to be a tribute, an offering of praise, back
to God.”31
Life Extension and Immortality
Zoltan Istvan (1973–), the first candidate to run for the position of the US Presidency
under the banner of the Transhumanist Party, aspires “to place science, health, and technology
and the forefront of American politics.”32 His first policy pledge states his desire to “Implement a
Transhumanist Bill of Rights mandating government support of longer lifespans via science and
technology.”33 He does so with the goal to overcome human aging and death within the next
30 Donald Arthur Carson, For the Love of God: A Daily Companion for Discovering the
Riches of God”s Word, Volume 1, 2 vols., vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1998).
31 Michael Lawrence, Biblical Theology in the Life of the Church: A Guide for Ministry,
9marks (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010), 105–107, 125, 163.
32 Zoltan Gyurko Istvan, “Zoltan Istvan for US President 2016,” Zoltan Istvan,
http://www.zoltanistvan.com.
33 His political platform consists of the following policy proposals: (1) Implement a
Transhumanist Bill of Rights mandating government support of longer lifespans via science and
technology; (2) Spread a pro-science culture by emphasizing reason and secular values; (3)
Create stronger government policies to protect against existential risk (including artificial
intelligence, plagues, asteroids, climate change, and nuclear warfare and disaster); (4) Provide
free education at every level; advocate for mandatory preschool and college education in the age
of longer lifespans; (5) Create a flat tax for everyone; (6) Advocate for morphological freedom
(the right to do anything to your body so long as it doesn’t harm others); (7) Advocate for real-
time democracy using available new technologies; (8) End costly drug war and legalize mild
recreational drugs like marijuana; (9) Create government where all politician’s original
professions are represented equally (the government should not be run by 40% lawyers when
lawyers represent only 10% of the country’s jobs); (10) Significantly lessen massive incarcerated
population in America by using innovative technologies to monitor criminals outside of prison;
14
generation. Istvan drove around on the presidential campaign trail by way of a recreational
vehicle that has been made to look like a coffin, calling it the Immortality Bus, to promote
awareness of the issue of working to eliminate biological death for humans. Echoing Pascal’s
Wager, Istvan believes that all humans must make a Transhumanist Wager.34 He calls for a
philosophy of Teleological Egocentric Functionalism (TEF). He believes that transhumanists
must follow three laws:
Law 1: A transhumanist must safeguard one’s own existence above all else.
Law 2: A transhumanist must strive to achieve omnipotence as expediently as possible—
so long as one’s actions do not conflict with the First Law.
Law 3: A transhumanist must safeguard value in the universe—so long as one’s actions
do not conflict with the First and Second Laws.35
He reasons that since life is valuable, and since we are uncertain about what happens to us when
we die, we should make every effort in this lifetime to avoid death. He assumes biological death
(11) Strongly emphasize green tech solutions to make planet healthier, (12) Support and draft
logistics for a Universal Basic Income; (13) Reboot the space program with significantly
increased government resources; (14) Develop international consortium to create a
“Transhumanist Olympics”; (15) Develop and support usage of a cranial trauma alert chip that
notifies emergency crews of extreme trauma (this will significantly reduce domestic violence,
crime, and tragedy in America); (16) Work to use science and technology to be able to eliminate
all disabilities in humans who have them; (17) Insist on campaign finance reform, limit
lobbyist’s power, and include 3rd political parties in government.
34 Istvan, The Transhumanist Wager. Compare with Peter Kreeft and Blaise Pascal,
Christianity for Modern Pagans: Pascal's Pensées Edited, Outlined, and Explained (San
Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 1993); Blaise Pascal, Pensees, trans. A. J. Krailsheimer, Revised
ed., Penguin Classics (New York, NY: Penguin Books USA, 1995).
35 Zoltan Gyurko Istvan, “The Three Laws of Transhumanism and Artificial Intelligence:
September 29, 2014,” Sussex Publishers, https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-
transhumanist-philosopher/201409/the-three-laws-transhumanism-and-artificial-intelligence.
This is essentially a form of ethical egoism. For a discussion on ethical egoism see J. P.
Moreland and William Lane Craig, Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview
(Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003), 425–445.
15
means ceasing to exist. His philosophy is entirely based upon the idea that maintaining
consciousness is the highest good.
Even if advances in computing technologies prove successful in dramatically extending
human lifespans, is such extension really a worthy endeavor? If the self can be integrated and
enhanced so that the mind and the self can be connected to an AI, should this project be pursued?
Is it realistic to think that the real self—the subject inside of one’s body—can be moved into a
digital-virtual realm in a meaningful way? This leap looks to be inconceivably large at the
present time. All trees do not grow to infinity. It may be that limitations and thresholds will be
reached that cannot be surmounted just through technology. The biblical perspective, revealed by
divine revelation, on life extension and immorality offers both the reality of the situation and a
better understanding of how mankind should ethically reflect on these possibilities.
Life and Immortality: A Biblical Perspective
Researchers and philosophers cannot really understand the effect of death upon
superintelligence without a proper view of life and death based upon Scripture. This is because
they believe that death has been present since the inception of the world of which they claim a
time frame of billions and billions of years. Charles Darwin (1809–1882) in On the Origin of the
Species (1859) said, “Thus, from the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted
object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals,
directly follows.”36 If Darwin is right, all intelligence, including AI, has evolved out of the
36 Charles Darwin and Edward O. Wilson. From So Simple a Beginning: The Four Great
Books of Charles Darwin - The Voyage of the Beagle (1845); On the Origin of Species (1859);
The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex (1871); The Expression of the Emotions in
Man and Animals (1872). 1st ed. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company, 2006. In On the
Origin of the Species, Chapter 14.
16
process of death. Death does not as a destroyer but an eliminator of that which is not
advantageous. Natural selection over long periods of time produces that which is “better suited”
than what was. Atheistic in nature, there is no allowance for an outside intelligent agent as
conceived by Aristotle and others. Nor is there room for an intelligent creator such as the triune
God revealed in the Bible.37 This is the same God who said, “Even though he should live a
thousand years twice over, yet enjoy no good—do not all go to the one place” (Eccl 6:6)? Man
cannot escape death:
For there is a time and a way for everything, although man’s trouble lies heavy on him.
For he does not know what is to be, for who can tell him how it will be? No man has
power to retain the spirit, or power over the day of death. There is no discharge from war,
nor will wickedness deliver those who are given to it (Eccl 8:6–8).
“What man can live and never see death? Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol” (Ps
89:48)? God gives man a soul by breathing into him the breath of life (Gen 2:7). Breath of life is
present in animals as well (Gen 6:17; 7:15). While both mankind and animals have the breath of
life, only humans are created in the imago Dei (Gen 1:26). Breath and its particular components
for respiration—primarily oxygen (O2)—are carried by the blood. Both mankind and animals
have blood.38 The life of a human and animals is found in the blood (Gen 4:10; 9:4–6; Lev 17:11,
14).
The Bible claims that death is the sentence for humanity’s sinful disobedience to God
(Gen 2:17). Biological death is a separation of the soul and the human physical body (Gen 3:17–
19; Rom 5:12–21; 1 Cor 15:21–22). Death is a result of man’s primordial sin, present in all
37 Aristotle. The Metaphysics. Translated by Hugh Lawson-Tancred. Penguin Classics.
New York, NY: Penguin Books, 1998.
38 Of course, single-celled organisms, sponges, insects, and perhaps others obtain their
oxygen through different type of circulatory systems.
17
mankind, and its wages is death (Rom 3:23; 6:23).39 It is known that the text does not mean
simply spiritual death, but also physical death, due to the judgment pronounced upon Adam (Gen
3:17–19; Rom 5:12–14; 1 Cor 15:22, 45). The Bible sees the penalty of sin as comprehensively
encompassing all of the following: spiritual death, the sufferings of life, biological death, and
eternal death. Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man, Savior and Lord, physically died as a result
the curse of sin that had entered into the world in the Garden of Eden, yet his death was
voluntary and He himself was without sin (John 10:18; Rom 5:8–12; 1 Pet 1:19).
Physical death came into the creation only after Adam and Eve’s disobedience and not
prior to it. These facts are established by the scriptural text of Genesis 1–3, a text which should
be interpreted as an accurate account of a historical reality. The early chapters of Genesis are
written in a Hebrew historical narrative style inspired. The words were inspired by God to Moses
(Matt 8:4; 19:7–8, Mark 7:10; 12:26; Luke 16:29, 31; 24:44; John 5:46; 7:19). The use of the
Hebrew waw ( ו) consecutive points to it being a narrative and not myth or another type of
literary category. Additional evidence is provided in the New Testament when the Apostle Paul
calls the first man “Adam” (1 Cor 15:45).
Physical death was not present in Genesis 1 based upon six days of creation, the fact that
in the beginning all animals including mankind was a vegetarian, and that God declared His
creation good (tob) and death is not a good (Gen 1:29–31).40 It is God who is the source of all
39 “Canon 1: If any man says that Adam, the first man, was created mortal, so that
whether he sinned or not he would have died, not as the wages of sin, but through the necessity
of nature, let him be anathema.” “Canons of the Council of Carthage, May 01, 418: Council of
Carthage to Investigate Pelagianism, May 01, 418: Translated by Charles Joseph Hefele and
Henry Nutcombe,”
http://www.libraryoftheology.com/writings/pelagianism/CanonsAgainstPelagianism.pdf.
40 Some Christian believers will disagree on this point. A notable Christian example
would be William Dembski (1960–). William Albert Dembski, The End of Christianity: Finding
18
goodness and defines good (Luke 18:19). Jesus, who is God with us, manifested in the flesh,
went around healing, a restorative action for the physical body and doing good (Acts10:38). The
physical death of the body was punishment established by God as established by the fact that the
physical body would return to the dust of the ground and this death comes to all humanity (Gen
3:19; Eccl 3:18–21; 9:4-6; 11:8). As a result of man’s knowledge of good and evil God banished
mankind from eating of the Tree of Life, should mankind live forever (Gen 3:22). The soul who
sins shall die (Ezek 18:4). Physical death of the body is a reality of the Fall and is an enemy to
mankind that has infected life upon earth (1 Cor 15:26). It has also manifested itself throughout
the entire creation (Rom 8:19–22).
Zoltan’s Teleological Egocentric Functionalism (TEF) focuses on biological existence
only. The Bible affirms that all mankind is biologically born spiritually dead, meaning alienated
and separated from life with God (Gen 1:26; 2:17; Isa 64:6; John 5:40; 6:53; Eph 2:1–3; 4:18; 1
Tim 5:6; 1 John 3:8). This means that the most important aspect of life is not to extend biological
life but to become spiritually alive. All humans are born in this state of spiritual death. Spiritual
life deserves more attention than one’s biological longevity (Gen 6:5; Ps 14:1–3; 51:5; Jer 17:9;
John 3:6; Rom 5:12–19). The Bible declares that man always exists after his creation by God.
However, his biological lifetime is of a limited duration until he biologically dies and faces
judgment (Heb 10:27). Biological life is important, but there is something more, something
greater—eternal life (Rom 6:23).
a Good God in an Evil World (Nashville, TN: B & H Academic, 2009). However such
disagreement is based upon improperly placing scientific conjectures above the authority and
appropriate principles of biblical hermeneutics. The understanding presented is thus the best way
to understand the authorial intent of Scripture as it best addresses the character of God, the
rebellion of man against God and the gospel message of redemption through the death, burial,
and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ.
19
God had a better plan in mind, one that He would reveal over time and that was
ultimately fulfilled in the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The plan of God’s
redemption of mankind and the creation of a new heaven and a new earth (Isa 65:17; 66:22; Acts
3:21; Col 1:15–20; 2 Pet 3:13; Rev 3:12; 21:1–2). Whether a man lives for one hundred, one
thousand, or even one million years, the result is the same. Man’s true focus should not be on
biological longevity but rather eternal life in relationship with God.
The Bible, which is historically factual, accurate, and trustworthy, claims that in the
future, when the Kingdom of God exists “on earth as it is in heaven,” all mankind will live in
immortality either alongside their Creator God in heaven or apart from Him in hell.41 God is
specifically recognized as the Creator of human life in the Bible. God says that He will swallow
up death forever (Isa 25:8). The resurrection of Jesus Christ gives Christians victory over death
(Hosea 13:14; 1 Cor 15:55).
The salvation of the Bible instructs mankind to set their minds and hearts to seek the Lord
your God and to fix our eyes upon Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith (Deut 11:18; 1
Chr 22:19; 2 Cor 4:18; Heb 3:1; 12:2). However, it is presently the case that, “the god of this
world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel
of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor 4:4). John Murray (1898–1975)
pronounced, “In salvation God does not deal with us as machines; he deals with us as persons.”42
He went on to say that, “Our immortality is equivalent to what the Bible calls glorification which
41 The principles of biblical hermeneutics being employed by the author of this paper lead
to this conclusion. George Eldon Ladd, The Gospel of the Kingdom of God: Scriptural Studies in
the Kingdom of God (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1959), 27.
42 John Murray, Redemption: Accomplished and Applied (Grand Rapids, MI: William B.
Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1955), 133.
20
is connected to our resurrection.”43 In the face of modern conception of AI, machines and
longevity Murray’s point is that the Bible provides the pathway to immortality and future
blessings realized in the new creation of God.
Christians are proud to sing the familiar hymn Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus
acknowledging that Christ has died in their place and that has risen to eternal life that believers
will live with Him in, “Through death into life everlasting Jesus passed, and we follow Him
there; Over us sin no more hath dominion, for more than conquerors we are!”44 The Apostle John
shares the promises of a future spent in the presence of the Savior for believers, writing,
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is
with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be
with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be
no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former
things have passed away” (Rev 21:3–4).
In the book of Job, hope is expressed for immortality though God (Job 14:14). The Psalmist
knows that man is appointed for death, yet he places his trust for ransom in God (Ps 49:12–15).
Long lifetimes have been experienced by humanity in the past. The first man, Adam,
lived 930 years (Gen 5:5). Prior to the Flood, mankind had much longer lifespans than they have
today, with 969 years being recorded as the longest (Gen 5:1–32).
The Tree of Life is a reoccurring theme that runs through the Bible. In Genesis 3, God
removed mankind from the Garden of Eden to prevent them from eating the fruit of the Tree of
Life (Gen 3:22–24). He did this to prevent them from living eternally upon the earth. Physical
death is necessary. Wisdom is called a Tree of Life (Prov 3:18). The beginning of wisdom is the
43 Ibid., 223.
44 Helen Howarth Lemmel, “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus,” (1922).
21
fear (reverence) of the LORD (Ps 111:10; Prov 1:7; 4:7; 9:10). Jesus Christ gives the Tree of
Life to those who conquer the world, against Satan, and die to themselves by identification with
Jesus Christ (Matt 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23; 1 John 2:15–17; Rev 2:7). In the city of heaven,
the tree of life will provide healing to nations for all eternity (Rev 22:2).
Of first importance in the gospel is “that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the
Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the
Scriptures” (1 Cor 15:3–4). If Christ does not have power over death than the gospel is false and
the Christian’s hope is Freudian-like wishful thinking (1 Cor 15:13–14). Anyone found in Adam
will die, but will live forever if found to have faith in Jesus Christ (1 Cor 15:22). Death is not a
good, but is rather an enemy (1 Cor 15:26). At the Great Judgment, Death will be thrown into the
lake of fire (Rev 20:14). Jesus Christ has destroyed death and also the devil so thus the Christian
need not fear it (Heb 2:14–15).
There already is immortal life (athanasia), a life that is imperishable (aphthartos); it is
found in the nature and essence of God (Rom 1:23; 1 Tim 1:17; 6:16). In contrast to God, all His
creation is sustained by the power of His Word (Col 1:15–20). God has created it so that people
who place their faith and trust in Him can be immortal and live in His presence (1 Cor 15:53–54;
2 Tim 1:10).
Author
Paul Golata is a Servant-Leader, Pastor, Theologian, Christian Ethicist, Adjunct Professor, and
Senior Technology Specialist. He teaches, preaches, writes, and speaks on biblical and Christian
worldview issues, ethics and morality, and the relationship between theology and technology.
Paul has held various leadership, sales and marketing, and technology positions at Mouser
Electronics, Arrow Electronics, JDSU, Balzers Optics, Piper Jaffray, Melles Griot, and Hughes
Aircraft Company.
22
Paul holds a PhD from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary – Fort Worth, TX; an MDiv
w/BL from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary – Fort Worth, TX; an MBA from
Pepperdine University – Malibu, CA; and a BSEET from DeVry Institute of Technology –
Chicago, IL.
23
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